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Webster 1913 Edition

fiend

fiend

(fēnd)
,
Noun.
[OE.
fend
,
find
,
fiend
,
feond
, fiend, foe, AS.
feónd
; akin to OS.
fīond
, D.
vijand
enemy, OHG.
fīant
, G.
feind
, Icel.
fjānd
, Sw. & Dan.
fiende
, Goth.
fijands
; orig. p. pr. of a verb meaning
to hate
, AS.
feón
,
feógan
, OHG.
fī[GREEK]n
, Goth.
fijan
, Skr.
pīy
to scorn; prob. akin to E.
feud
a quarrel. √81. Cf.
Foe
,
Friend
.]
An implacable or malicious foe; one who is diabolically wicked or cruel; an infernal being; – applied specifically to the devil or a demon.
Into this wild abyss the wary
fiend

Stood on the brink of Hell and looked a while.
Milton.
O woman! woman! when to ill thy mind
Is bent, all hell contains no fouler
fiend
.
Pope.
–
Fiend′ful-ly
,
adv.

Webster 1828 Edition

Fiend

FIEND

,
Noun.
[See Feud, contention.]
An enemy in the worst sense; an implacable or malicious foe; the devil; an infernal being.
O woman! woman! when to ill thy mind is bent, all hell contains no fouler fiend.

Definition 2024

fiend

fiend

English

Alternative forms

Noun

fiend ‎(plural fiends)

  1. (obsolete) An enemy, unfriend, or foe.
  2. (religious, archaic) The enemy of mankind, specifically, the Devil; Satan.
    • 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society 2012, p. 35:
      At the confirmation ceremony the bishop would lay his hands on the child and tie around its forehead a linen band […]. This was believed to strengthen him against the assaults of the fiend […].
  3. A devil or demon; a malignant or diabolical being; an evil spirit.
    • 1845, E.A. Poe, "The Raven"
      "Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!"
  4. A very evil person
  5. (informal) An addict or fanatic
    a jazz fiend

Derived terms

Synonyms

Translations

Verb

fiend ‎(third-person singular simple present fiends, present participle fiending, simple past and past participle fiended)

  1. (slang, intransitive) To yearn; to be desperate (for something).
    • 2011, Emma J. Stephens, For a Dancer: The Memoir
      I am back in San Francisco at the Clift Hotel, fiending for my fix.

Anagrams

Etymology

From Middle English feend ‎(“enemy, demon”), from Old English fēond ‎(“enemy”), from Proto-Germanic *fijandz. Cognate with Old Norse fjándi (Icelandic fjandi, Danish fjende, Swedish fiende, Norwegian fiende, West Frisian fijân, Low German Feend, Fiend, Dutch vijand, German Feind, Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌾𐌰𐌽𐌳𐍃 ‎(fijands), all of them meaning foe. The Old Norse and Gothic terms are present participles of the corresponding verbs fjá/𐍆𐌹𐌾𐌰𐌽 ‎(fijan, “to hate”). Akin to Sanskrit पियति ‎(piyati, “(he) reviles”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /fiːnd/
  • Rhymes: -iːnd

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